Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
New Endeavour for an MIT experiment
Space Shuttle Endeavours final mission, launched May 16, has successfully delivered MIT researchers Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) an instrument designed to use the unique environment of space to search...
Welcome home, Paolo!
ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli landed back on Earth this morning to conclude his 159-day mission to the International Space Station. Paolo had been serving as the flight engineer for Expeditions...
Alien Solar Systems Are Much Different Than Our Own
Alien solar systems appear to be common in our galaxy, but they're not like Earth's.
Giant Black Hole's Massive Jets Get Extreme Close-Up in New Photo
Astronomers get treated to their closest view yet of jets escaping a galaxy's central black hole.
Unprecedented photo op for shuttle-space station
(AP) -- In an unprecedented cosmic photo shoot Monday, a departing spaceship snapped close-up glamour pictures of the space shuttle Endeavour attached to the International Space Station.
Astronauts field questions from Ariz. students
Endeavour Cdr. Mark Kelly, astronaut Mike Fincke take very-long-distance video call from Tucson classmates of Christina Green
Orbiting astronauts chat with Italy's president
(AP) -- The astronauts circling Earth got another VIP call from Rome on Monday.
Ariane 5's third launch of 2011
An Ariane 5 launcher lifted off this evening from Europes Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites, ST-2 and GSAT-8, into their planned transfer orbits....
Testing spacesuits in Antarctica, part 1
In this field diary, Margarita Marinova takes us on a journey to Antarctica in order to test spacesuits Testing the suits in harsh environments on Earth can help future explorers,...
DARPA wants your ideas for a 100-year starship
The idea for a 100-year starship has been tossed around recently, and now DARPA the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has put out a Request for Information (RFI) looking for...
Thermo Fisher Bets On Phadia
Diagnostics: Deal gives instrument firm a stake in allergy and autoimmunity testing.
EU announces launch date for first Galileo satellites
The European Union announced Monday it will launch the first two satellites in its long-delayed and hugely over-budget Galileo navigation system from French Guiana on October 20.
Earthly extremes hint to life elsewhere
If Jocelyne DiRuggiero was looking for life on Mars, she wouldnt dig in the planets red soil. Instead, shed head where you might not expect.
Science Weekly podcast: Science fiction, and the age of cosmology
We visit a science fiction exhibition at The British Library, while astronomer and author Stuart Clarke joins us in the studio to discuss a different kind of science fiction: his...
The Plot Of The Week - Same-Sign Dileptons
The plot of the week is actually a table. A histogram with several background components can be extremely informative, but sometimes a table provides more detail and one can focus...
Japan 'plans solar panels for all new buildings'
Japan is considering a plan that would make it compulsory for all new buildings and houses to come fitted with solar panels by 2030, a business daily said Sunday.
Arecibo telescope to have new management
WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico will be getting a new manager after four decades of operations under the direction of Cornell University, officials...
Astronomers in light battle in Arizona
TUCSON, May 20 (UPI) -- Astronomers in Arizona say their work is being hampered by light pollution from an unexpected source -- the drug war and smuggling along the...
NASA confiscates purported 'moon rock'
LAKE ELSINORE, Calif., May 20 (UPI) -- NASA officials say they haven't determined whether a rock a woman in California tried to sell for $1.7 million is a genuine...
Cats in tanks
Since the Rapture is scheduled to happen today (again!), I have to share this catopocalypse video as your Caturday video smileSince the Rapture is scheduled to happen today (again!), I...
News in Brief: Atom & Cosmos
Liquid water possible on Earthlike planet, plus black-hole atoms, Io’s magma ocean and more in this week’s news
Exclusive Area 51 Pictures: Secret Plane Crash Revealed
In 1963 a prototype rocketed out of the secret base—and never returned. See the crash for the first time, and get closer to the truth about Area ...
Revealed: How Area 51 Hid Secret Craft
Veterans of the secret U.S. base reveal how they shielded futuristic prototypes—and jury-rigged low-tech decoys.
Why we're enraptured by Rapture hype
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The prediction of a world-shattering Rapture is so kooky that other end-time prophets say it's giving them a bad name. So why is there so...
How lightning shoots for the stars
Cosmic Log: On rare occasions, jets of lightning escape from the tops of thunderclouds and shoot up into the atmosphere where they pose a threat to weather balloons and other...
Landsat offers stunning comparison of flooding
Extreme rainfall and heavy snowmelt have combined this spring to bring the Mississippi River roaring beyond its banks. While humans on the ground have scrambled to evacuate, build sandbag walls...
Skydiving on Saturn
Daredevils regularly bail out at high altitude to skydive through Earths atmosphere but what would it be like to skydive on Saturn?
Finding Castaway Planets – No, NOT Nibiru
Free-floating Jupiter size planets are fairly common. Astronomers use a neat trick of Einstein’s math to find them. And, no, there aren’t any free-range monster-worlds lurking nearby.